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Wayne chuckled as he turned the electric baton on, looking me dead in the eyes. “Did you hear that? Leave her alone? Didn’t know he was so fond of you.” He came closer, his horrifying grin inches from my face.

“Oh, God,” I sobbed as he raised his hand, the baton’s electrical volts heard over my cries.

“We’ve been over this. God’s never been here.”

I didn't have a second to breathe before the taser connected with my thigh, high voltages of pain igniting my flesh as a blood-curdling scream escaped my lips. Oh God, oh God, oh God. I screamed so loud, my eardrums popped as the electric currents pulsated through my body, my muscles seizing before he pulled back, taunting me as he jabbed it underneath my jaw.

“Please,” I gasped, tears streaming down my face.

He grinned with a glint in his eyes, his pupils dilated, hiding the icy blue beneath them. Wayne turned the baton on again, the electricity shooting straight through my jaw, short-circuiting my thoughts as it clenched shut. I made a strange sound as my eyes rolled into the back of my skull. This was it. I had finally pushed him too far. I felt my body go lax before Wayne growled and threw the baton to the ground, its broken plastic pieces bouncing off the concrete. I moaned in pain as he forcefully pulled me off the gambrel hook, a sharp edge cutting deep into my arm before I landed on the cold, hard ground.

“Fuck sake.”

Wayne dropped to his knees in front of me so fast, I didn’t have time to flinch. He grabbed my cheeks, fingers clamping around my jaw. Pain shot up my skull, white and blinding. I choked on a breath that won’t come as his grip tightened, nails digging into my skin hard enough, I knew it would bruise.

“You ever fucking think about leaving me,” he snarled, his mouth so close to my face, I could feel the heat and smell the sourness on his breath, “I’ll gut your fucking brother.”

My heart stopped.

His fingers pressed harder, grinding my jaw until it felt like it might crack. “I’ll gut him,” he repeated, quieter now, more deliberate. “And his little family. I’ll open them up right in front of you, do you understand me?” His lips brushed my ear, voice dropping to something cold and certain. “I’ll fucking kill him, Evelyn.”

My real name hits me like a blow.

“I—” My lungs stuttered, panic clawing up my throat. “I understand,” I cried.

“Do you?” he snapped, shaking my head violently in his grip.

“Yes!” I sobbed, the word tearing out of me. My vision swam. I couldn’t breathe properly, couldn’t think past the pain in my skull, the terror clawing through my chest. I cried out as he hauled me into his lap, my body folding against him, every bruise screaming, my head spinning from the sudden movement. His arms wrapped around me, holding me so tight I could barely move.

“Shh…shh…” he cooed, rocking slightly, like he was soothing me. Like he didn’t just threaten to tear apart the only people I had left. “Look at you…look at what you make me do.”

I sobbed, rigid in his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to watch it. I…I don't wanna go home,” I rasped, the lie tasting foul in my mouth. “I wanna stay here,” I forced myself to say, swallowing back the bile rising in my throat. “With you…please, Wayne.” It felt like something inside me died as I said it. But if he killed Peter because of me, I’d never forgive myself.

“Yeah?” he asked, pulling back just enough to look at me, his eyes searching my face. “You love me?”

I nodded quickly, my vision blurring with tears. “Yes,” I whispered.

He leaned his forehead against mine, our skin slick, my blood smearing between us as he exhaled slowly.

“Makes me sick when I hurt you, darl,” he murmured softly, and my stomach twisted violently. Because I could feel the blood sliding down my back from where he threw me down the stairs. I could feel my jaw throbbing under where he electrocuted me. I could feel every single place he’d ever touched me in anger. And still, his hand came up to cradle my cheek, almost gentle.

“I don’t like it,” he added, even quieter now, like he truly believed it. A broken sound built in my chest, but I swallowed it down, pressing my face into him, because that’s what he wanted. Because that’s what kept everyone else alive.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“I accept your apology,” he conceded.

“But you have to learn your lesson.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my temple, completely at odds with the way my body was still shaking from what he’d done. My skin crawled under it. I held perfectly still, forcing myself not to recoil.

Then, he shoved me. Hard. I fell from his lap onto the concrete, the impact knocking the air from my lungs in a broken gasp. Pain exploded through my back, and I curled instinctively, arms wrapping around myself as if I could hold my body together.

“You’ll stay down here tonight,” he threw over his shoulder, already turning away. His boots hit the stairs, each step echoing too loud in the confined space. I didn’t move. I didn’t dare.

The door slammed. The sound cracked through the room like a gunshot, plunging the room into a stilted darkness. I lay there on my side, staring into nothing, my chest rising in shallow, uneven breaths that scraped on the way in and out. My bottom lip trembled uncontrollably as the pain settled deep into my bones, the scent of my own blood clenching my stomach.

What did I do to deserve this?

The question circled, relentless, carving deeper each time it passed through my mind. My fingers curled against the cold concrete, nails scraping uselessly as my body trembled. Maybe I should’ve kept fighting, should’ve kept refusing to obey his commands and just let him end my suffering all those years ago. Let him kill me and dump my corpse, despite knowing how much it would hurt the people that loved me.